Is Corruption going to be an issue in the 2022 election?

Every citizen of the state had experienced the menace of corruption. When the present government came to power in March 2017, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh showed serious concern about corruption and his government had initiated various initiatives to curb the corruption. First, he set up an anti-corruption cell at his office, and later, his government upgraded the vigilance department to state vigilance commission. Civil Societies, individuals, scholars, students’ bodies all talk about the menace of corruption. Some of the intending candidates of the upcoming 12 Manipur Legislative Assembly also heard talking about curbing corruption. Well and good, but one thinks twice on whether corruption is seriously taken by the lawmakers and those who are aspiring to become lawmakers is a matter that everyone is asking.
Corruption can informally be described as the act of unfairly or illegally influencing a decision-making process through the giving or receiving of a benefit (gratification) for the person making the decision or a third party connected to the decision-maker. In short, any form of influence either in the form of cash or kind can be defined as corruption. Giving money to influence someone for his mere gain is also corruption.
With the election just around the corner, many intending candidates, as well as the sitting MLAs, are seen campaigning for the upcoming election and there are unofficial reports of these intending candidates or the sitting MLAs giving cash or promising a better life to make sure that the voters support them. We have seen posters of intending candidates pasted on walls at various places. The election commission of India is yet to announce the poll notification and there are already takes going on about some candidates spending lakhs or crores of cash to woo the voters. Is not spending money for getting the support of the people to the candidate, not a kind of corruption? It is at this point that we in the Imphal Times are skeptical of any promises of any intending candidates or political parties on whether they will be serious in dealing with the issue of corruption.
Finally, it is the voters that have to take a major role in curbing the menace of corruption. It is them that will decide in making a corrupt-free state. The more the voters stand against the distribution of money or spending of money by the intending candidates to lure the voters, the level of corruption can be reduced to a minimum if not all.
It is time that everyone stands against corruption. Let the main agenda of the upcoming election be ‘Fight Against Corruption”.